Pages

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Summer Days

I’ve taken quite a break from blogging this summer, and for no really good reason other than that it is summer and it’s busy (but aren’t we all?? not a very good excuse for me I’m afraid) and it is glorious outside in the summer here in the polar north. We have to get our vitamin D somehow!! We have actually been having quite a mild summer here which we have been loving, though I hope hope HOPE it doesn’t mean the polar vortex is awaiting us again right around the corner. Yikes.

Actually, I think the main reason I haven’t been blogging is because I have done basically nothing inside our house these past couple of months. Nothing blog-worthy, anyway. And I have been even worse about taking pictures of anything that might have been in the slightest bit blogworthy. : ) I have been outside enjoying and gardening. I’ll just touch upon a few things…

We are in the middle of doing the Whole 30! What is that? This site can tell you all about it, but basically you go off dairy, all grains, legumes (including peanuts and soy), sugar in any form (including honey and all those sneaky things that get added to foods that end in -ose), alcohol, and MSG/carrageenan/sulfites for 30 days and then slowly re-introduce them into your diet. During re-introduction you try to notice if any foods seem to bother you to determine if you could be sensitive to those. We are on day 17 today and I haven’t noticed much benefit yet (I started this hoping for more energy as it always seems to be low) and my husband says he felt great before we started this diet and feels great still, but it is still early so the jury is out. I am missing my dairy and carbs for sure! It definitely has opened my eyes to all the things they add to even the most basic of foods! On a side note, we are all tired of eggs for breakfast. : ) (My husband bought one of those 15 dozen boxes of eggs last week and we have already plowed through almost half of them!)

I don’t think I shared this last year, but we will be starting our 2nd year of homeschooling so I am working on turning our music room into a “study” for the coming school year. Last year I used part of the playroom in the basement for schooling, but this year I thought it might be nice to be on the main level because we don’t have carpeting up here and I would feel less nervous about glue, paint, play-doh, and other preschool/school mess that comes with the territory. The music room looked kind of like this:

And now as a study it looks like a hot mess:

But never fear, stay tuned for more progress on that!!

And our garden(s), ahhhh…they are doing great for the most part!! We have been enjoying a lot of fresh veggies around here.

Pea thief : )

Can you spy the three melons?

Everything is growing wildly, including the marigolds I planted along the main path in the garden. I intended them to be more like a hedge, but they obviously are more free-spirited souls who intend to take over the path instead!

And what do you think of my rebel pink-haired corn?

Broccoli and beans haven’t done as well, but that doesn’t mean Butterscotch doesn’t enjoy resting in their shade

I have another post in the works all about the state of the gardens and how that garden arch is working for us so far. Hopefully I’ll get that up soon!